Mass Effect: Blood for Blood
by Mozer121
Summary: Commander Shepard and his team of rag-tag soldiers, assassins, biotics, and engineers have eliminated the threat of the Collectors. However a new horror threatens peace in the galaxy, one that will pull them into a war fought for millennia.


**A/N**: _This fic is to undergo significant re-writing. I honestly felt that it was too long and drawn out and just not getting to the point I wanted it to be at. My intel was also a little off and there was a lot I wanted to correct. Rest assured Chakande is not dead and will still be included in this story.  
_

* * *

So this was his fate...

He stood before his four fellow elders at the shrine inside one of their oldest temples. The warm, humid air of Yautja Prime flowing into his lungs, contrasting the bitter chill he felt crawling over his skin. The angle of the dimly lit red lighting hid the faces of his brother elders, though he could feel their eyes upon him; glaring down at him with disgust. Disgust for the crime he had committed.

"Elder Rokashe, by the will of the Matriarch, and the will of Paya, you are hereby found guilty of heresy against the Blood Bane clan and the Yautja race," Elder Taakuma started, tapping the end of his spear on the cold stone steps of the shrine. "By the law of the Ancients, you are sentenced to exile by pain of death on quarry twenty-eight...and are stripped of your title of Halkrath Thei-de. May Cetanu spare no mercy as he reaps your spirit, traitor..."

They dare call him, Halkrath Thei-de, a traitor! After all he had sacrificed to ensure the strength and glory of the Blood Bane clan? Six centuries of his life, he spent earning the rank of elder. Even in his last centuries of life, he has devoted his time to training the unblooded and molding them into strong, honorable hunters and warriors. And in the end, he is labeled a traitor? An honorless Bad blood? Simply for preaching the true destiny of their race to his students? The S'yuit-de elders would ascertain nothing of which he spoke. Too thick are their skulls! Clinging to their obsolete ideals and interpretations of Paya's scripture! They would have them preserve the worlds of their prey; to leave the dishonorable, vile aliens to grow and evolve unchained!

Their world leaders have been cautious up till now; establishing laws and regulations for each hunter of every clan to follow so that their hunting expeditions may be undertaken in a discreet manner. So that their race may remain unknown and hidden from the ignorance of aliens who could not possibly comprehend the values of their culture; of strength and honor. But they have yet to question themselves of the viability of their plans. How long before a hunter and his clan take a false step and expose the existence of their species to the galaxy? The Yautja are powerful as is; their achievements in technology have proven so. But outsiders, aliens would see their ways, the way of the hunt as immoral and abominable. They would ultimately rise up and declare war on them. They would destroy all that the Yautja have persevered for. How can the elders not see that? The Yautja must take first blood and strike them down before the threat becomes insurmountable! That is what he had been teaching his students and blooded warriors, and that is what has landed him into his current predicament, facing permanent exile and dishonorable dismissal from the Blood Bane clan. Of course they would spare him execution. To have him viewed as a martyr is the last thing they would want.

They failed to recognize one thing...

He is, and forever will be, Halkrath Thei-de. He is not an Eta. He knew they would come for him; brand him as a heretic and punish him for what he deemed righteous. There are many blooded and honored who are eternally loyal to him and who will see to it that his freedom is secured and his plans accomplished.

He will make the council of elders, the true traitors, pay for this humiliation...

Blood for blood...

…

A sad day...

A once strong, noble, and influential figure in their society has been persecuted as a traitor. The elder he once proudly called his brother, has fallen; corrupted by his own arrogant ideals, ideals that were forged centuries earlier.

Ideals that nearly brought about the destruction of all they...

Elder Taakuma took in a fresh breathe of recycled air as he stared out the view port of his private chamber. His weary eyes admired the stunning orbital view of their homeworld, Yautja Prime. It's technologically advanced cities of metal and stone shimmering from the surface, surrounded by kilometers of desert oasis. However, without a mask to allow him sight into other spectrums, the planet appeared only as a large mass of heat to his eyes. Indeed they had much to be proud of. Having settled on dozens of planets throughout their cluster and reached populations numbering in the tens of billions on each world. They have evolved to be one of the universe's most powerful species, biologically and technologically. But even with all their achievements in this life, there have been many downfalls.

Stepping away from the view port, the exhausted Yautja elder paced towards one of his many trophy walls. Sporting the fruits of his hunts, skulls, spines, and skins of many beasts and humanoids, it stretched the entire length of the wall of his chamber. For any who entered here would feel the weight of hundreds of years of glory. He walked along a section of the wall that held a skull of his own kind. A Bad Blood he had slain before his ascension to the rank of elder. He traced the contours of its cranium as he reminisced over a dark time in their race's history, a time when he served as an honored warrior in a great war.

A war that nearly divided their people...

It had all started centuries earlier when they had first had the privilege of meeting their deadliest prey, the black, bony demons with elongated heads and long ridged tails, a species that gestates inside the body of a living host, the Kainde Amedha, Serpents. It was on a jungle world light years from their own, a world the humans called BG-386, where a Blood Bane hunting expedition led by their great ancestor, Elder Payade, discovered a hive of the vicious creatures with tails like swords and molecular acid for blood. He was the first. Payade was the first of their species to strike down one of the beasts and take its head for a trophy. Doing so earned him the title of Lord and created a new era of hunting for their race. Forever after their unblooded would undergo what is known as the Kainde Amedha Chiva, a trial of life and death against the serpents. The killing of one would mark their acceptance into adulthood and permit them the honor of all blooded hunters.

Such enlightenment was not to last however. For shortly after the discovery of this prey, their biologists began studying the creatures in controlled environments. They discovered that the serpents' bodies produce a unique signature pheromone that allows them to identify one another. They theorized that using a single hunter to wield the pheromone of a queen, and his subordinates, that of a drone, they could manipulate the serpents into following their every command.

They could control the actions of the Kainde Amedha.

This discovery wrought the said ideals to fruition. Elders from many clans believed this species to be a gift from Paya. They preached it the destiny of their race to harness the power of the serpents and use their hordes to conquer all life in the galaxy. But those who followed the true teachings of Paya knew this to be a perversion of the essence of their culture. For the hunt is all about two values: Strength, and Honor. To wage war on the galaxy would be to commit genocide against the many races that inhabited the stars. Paya teaches that to hunt is not to kill, but to honor. And the majority of their race would have nothing to do with killing unworthy prey and betraying the lessons that make them who, and what they are.

Simple ideals soon became a faith that rallied many clans to the cause of galactic domination and soon, clans that were once united by shared commandments began to rebel against their brothers. A great war was fought across every colonized world of theirs. The renegade clans, now called the Killers, began using the serpents to cut down their enemies in their battles against the Hunters. Taakmaw knew well of the bloodshed that took place in those years, for he had served in the legions of Payade, who had led their people into battle against their fallen brethren. After decades of conflict what was left of the Killers had been wiped out. Snuffed from existence, and their people were one, and at peace once again.

And now...Rokashe unknowingly seeks to start it all over again...

This time however, they had taken immediate action to quell it before it begins. Hopefully, his sentence will be carried out before those loyal to him will begin questioning themselves and rise up against their own once again.

Enough reminiscing though, what's done is done and there was no need to wallow in despair over events long passed. Surely there were duties that required his attention aboard the ship. If anything they would provide a welcoming distraction and as alpha, it was his responsibility. So he acted upon his decision and left his private chamber in darkness, letting the thick metal door shut behind him. Many blooded hunters gave a slight bow as he passed them. Every member of the Blood Bane clan respected him immensely for his service and leadership.

Hurried footsteps echoed through the metal corridors behind him, and he knew before he was upon him, who this individual was.

Ra'khan, his beta and acting captain of his clan ship. Taakuma snorted in acknowledgment of his presence while Ra'khan gave a slight bow and salute, followed by the clicking of tusks.

"Gkaun-yte Elder Taakuma."

"Gkaun-yte, Ra'khan. Why are you not on the bridge?" asked Taakuma. Such was typical of the elder, as with most Yautja in general when speaking, straight to the point with no complexity.

I have Lar'jade's report. The U'darahje is dead and the ooman stain, cleansed" Ra'khan replied.

"Good. And was he able to recover the knowledge stored in Payade's wrist bracer?"

"Indeed, Elder. Coordinates to the homeworld of the Kainde Amedha were found within. He has already set course."

"The young blood is truly blessed. Thank you for bringing this to my attention beta. Return to the bridge and match his course. I wish to see this world with my own eyes."

"Sei-i ki-sei, Elder. N'dhi-ja."

"N'dhi-ja, beta."

Dismissing himself with another bow, Ra'khan made the short return to the bridge. It was as quiet as it usually was. Each Yautja warrior worked tirelessly at their stations. The beeping of systems, clicking of tusks, and the occasional frustrated growl filled the air. Upon entering, each stood up and saluted the beta, who took his place in his seat.

"Plot a course for quarry zero, full ahead!" Ra'khan ordered.

"Sei-i beta, course plotted for quarry-" a sudden flash of light from the port side window blinded the entire bridge crew and interrupted the pilot. Looking to the window, they saw the flash of light fade into a devastating blast wave on the surface of Yautja Prime.

"Pauk!" Ra'khan cursed, "Report!"

"Thermal-nuclear detonation detected from the planet's surface!"

"I am not blind, warrior! Explain to me, the cause!"

"I do not know, beta. Surface communications have been disrupted and-" Growling furiously, Ra'khan rose from his seat and grabbed the pilot by the neck, tossing him out of his seat.

"Useless incompetent! One of you warriors, give me an answer!" Ra'khan roared.

"Beta, the Ikthya-de agaj'ya is breaking orbit! Non-responsive to transmissions," another pilot exclaimed.

"C'jit!" The Ikthya-de agaj'ya was the vessel were Rokashe was being held prisoner before his exile was to be carried out. "Engage! Rip them apart!"

The clan ship shook violently as its massive plasma cannons fired upon the hi-jacked vessel. Its shields flickering with each direct hit. The battle was short lived though, for the vessel vanished from sight an instant later as its FTL drive was activated.

Rokashe, heretic Bad blood now mass murderer, had escaped...

* * *

Eta - The lowest of the Yautja caste system. Made up of the lame, crippled, and dishonored who work as slaves and perform menial tasks.

Paya - The Yautja Warrior God

Cetanu - The Yautja God of death

S'yuit-de - Coward; Pathetic. A demeaning term

Gkaun-yte - Greetings; Hello

N'dhi-ja - Farewell; Good bye

Ki'sei - I agree; I understand

Sei-i - Yes; Afirmative

C'jit! - "Damn!"

Pauk! - A term equal to the "F" bomb

Kainde amedha chiva - the Hard Meat Trial

Halkrath Thei-de - Shadow of Death

U'darahje - Abomination (PredAlien)

Lar'jade - Dark one (Predator protagonist from Aliens vs. Predator 2010)

Payade - "Hand of Paya"

Ikthya-de agaj'ya - Realm of Apparition


End file.
